Salasil al-Dhahab
- Author died
- 794 AH
- Editions
- The Editor
Salasil al-Dhahab (Chains of Gold) is a specialized treatise on Islamic legal theory (usul al-fiqh) by the Egyptian Shafi'i jurist and traditionist Badr al-Din al-Zarkashi (745–794 AH / 1344–1392 CE) .
Title and Purpose
The author opens the treatise identifying himself as Muhammad ibn 'Abd Allah al-Zarkashi al-Shafi'i and states that he entitled the work Salasil al-Dhahab because of the preciousness of its refined content and the deliberate interconnectedness of its topics . Al-Zarkashi characterized it as a concise compilation of rare, refined, and innovative questions in legal theory, specifically highlighting issues that branch out from established foundational maxims, address theological dilemmas (kalam), or intersect with subtle grammatical investigations (mabahith nahwiyya) .
Structure and Contents
The work is organized into an extensive introduction (muqaddima) followed by seven books (kutub) .
In the introduction, al-Zarkashi establishes his interdisciplinary methodology, analyzing legal theoretical problems across theology, Arabic grammar, and jurisprudence . He examines the foundational derivations of legal theory, followed by core jurisprudential concepts such as:
- The nature of the legal ruling (al-hukm al-shar'i) and thanking the Benefactor (shukr al-mun'im) .
- The distinction between individual obligation (al-fard wa-l-wajib) and communal obligation (fard al-kifaya) .
- Legal validity and discharge (al-sihha wa-l-ijza) .
- Commands concerning ambiguous choices (al-amr bi-wahid mubham) and whether an imperative implies the prohibition of its opposite (al-amr bi-l-shay nahy 'an diddih) .
- Questions of legal capacity (taklif), including the ruling on nonexistent entities, imposing impossible tasks, the accountability of the oblivious, sleeping, or coerced individuals, whether non-Muslims are addressed by subsidiary legal branches (taklif al-kuffar bi-furu' al-shar'), and whether making up missed obligations requires a newly issued command .
Reception and Modern Editions
Al-Zarkashi's method of interlocking dependent rulings influenced later scholars; Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti cited Salasil al-Dhahab alongside Abu Muhammad al-Juwayni's Silsilat al-Wasil when composing his own chain-structured grammatical treatise .
In modern scholarship, the text was edited and studied by Muhammad al-Mukhtar ibn Muhammad al-Amin al-Shinqiti as a doctoral dissertation at the Islamic University of Madinah in 1404 AH, and was later published in multiple editions . It was also edited by Ma'mun 'Abd al-Qayyum at the Faculty of Sharia and Law at Al-Azhar University .
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